Participation in the National Conference on Developmental Psychology

The 30th National Conference on Developmental Psychology was held at the University of Gdansk from 2-4 June 2022. Play Therapy Poland's Nina Ambroziak and Dr Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska, with the affiliation Play Therapy International, presented during the conference in their paper entitled. "Supporting Child Development in Non-Directive Play Therapy - Play Therapy", the results of a study conducted in a group of 30 children who participated in 12 sessions of Play Therapy short-term non-directive play therapy. The presentation raised questions about whether children's emotional, social and behavioural problems as perceived by their parents differed between the start and end of therapy, and whether there were any discrepancies, taking into account the child's gender and age, as well as the parents' formulated therapy goals.

Analysis of the data obtained showed that Play Therapy's short-term non-directive therapy produced positive results in terms of emotional problems, peer contacts and in behaviour.

Prevention and prevention in the area of mental health are identified as crucial during childhood and adolescence. In Poland, there is a need to implement an effective, safe and friendly form of supporting the emotional, social and mental development of early school-aged children. Play Therapy's holistic approach to child development, and thus to child therapy, offers the hope of meeting children's diverse needs, which in turn prevents, reduces or eliminates the development of psychopathology in development.

The non-directive play therapy Play Therapy in the model developed by Play Therapy International is designed to prevent and support natural resources in the development of preschool and school-age children. Based on the ideas of V. Axline, referring to the concepts of D. Winnicot and C. Rogers, Play Therapy practitioners use play as a space to work through the child's difficulties, as well as to strengthen the child's natural self-regulation abilities. Supervision of the effectiveness of Play Therapy is carried out using, among other things, a system of assessment by parents using Goodman's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

The presentation attracted a lot of interest from the audience and the discussion after the paper confirmed the high substantive and practical value of the research presented.